A MAJOR boxing promoter hid deals with Kinahan cartel leader Daniel Kinahan from TV giant ESPN so he could land Tyson Fury fights, it has been claimed.
US boxing manager William Keane has made the sensational claim as part of his legal action against Top Rank Boxing President Todd DuBoef.
In documents filed to California Federal Court, Keane claims that DuBoef asked him to “lie” to senior ESPN executives by claiming that he had “nothing to do with Kinahan”and had “never even met him”.
DuBoef is also alleged to have hid his relationship with Kinahan – who remains in Dubai – from his stepdad, the legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum.
Keane made the allegations after suing Top Rank and DuBoef for $25m in unpaid fees.
He claims that DuBoef desperately needed some big fights to please ESPN after signing a $90m per year media rights contract in 2017.
According to the allegations made in the lawsuit, DuBoef is accused of reaching a deal with Kinahan as part of his efforts to get Fury to fight with Top Rank.
The boxing manager also claims that DuBoef was “aware” of Kinahan’s reputation.
As part of his efforts to land his $25m fees, Mr Keane also claims that when the arrangement with Kinahan was signed in 2019 he was told not to tell ESPN that the cartel boss underwrote the purse of the second Fury and Dontay Wilder fight.
The deal was signed just a year before Fury took to social media to praise the mafia boss.
The alleged relationship between Kinahan and the boxing promoter was also made just two years before the US Treasury sanctioned Kinahan and other senior members of his gang.
Last year Arum branded Kinahan a “super conman” and warned others in the sport to stay away from the gangster.
It was Top Rank Promotions chief Arum who helped propel Kinahan to the top of the fight game, as he previously described him as “honourable”.
Irish boxing hero Barry McGuigan also last year told how Kinahan’s “tentacles are still in quite a bit of the sport”.
Fury has since cut ties with Kinahan and in an interview in 2022, he said he had not had any business dealings with him for a long time.
KEY NEGOTIATOR
Kinahan advised dozens of fighters in professional boxing until April 2022 and was a key negotiator for bouts being held in Saudi Arabia.
At present, Kinahan remains the focus of a major investigation by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.
Volumes of files on the mob boss are now being examined by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Top Rank and DuBoef have so far not responded to the claims.
